Borderline Mocking
by ScroungeUpChange
Summary: Rowan says that she does not like Sirius Black. She is determined to prove it to her friends, who made a bet with her. Contact him anonymously, hook the boy, and reject him. A challenge that her pride makes her face. I don't own Harry Potter. Sirius X OC
1. The Challenge

Welcome, my lovelies!

I've written truly plot-thick stories but for now I just want to pump out something fun. Welcome to my new account! Here's a light Sirius Black/ Original Female Character romance fiction that I hope you all enjoy. (: Disclaimer is in the story description, but I'll restate! I do not own Harry Potter. The main OC, the secondary OC's, and any plot that I think up is all that I can take credit for. Enjoy~

-Ralby

…

**Prologue**

**Borderline Mocking: **_**The Challenge**_

…

I loved dress shoes. I loved it even more that it was required in the dress code to wear dress shoes. Simply because when I walked down the regal halls of Hogwarts, against the slick floors, I would clack. A grudging walk would sound a bit more stretched, and sad.

Clack… clack… clack… clack… clack… clack.

An average trot would be laid back.

Clack, clack. Clack, clack. Clack, clack.

And then there is feisty stride, which comes along with a sour or rushed mood.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.

Even the paintings cringed as I strutted down the corridors, my mouth thinned into a line. A group of girls behind me laughed as I went, only faltering when they realized that my chin was still up and my shoulders were still back. I broke into the Great Hall, moving around the students who were coming and going. I neared my destination and I finally exploded.

"I'm going to blow a gasket!" I steamed out, flopping down onto the bench next to some of my dearest friends, my hair falling into my face before I blew it back out.

"Gasket?"

"What's a gasket?"

"You idiots, don't you ever pay attention in Muggle Studies?"

"Nope, you should know us, Melody. What is it anyway-"

"-Sounds pretty dirty if you ask us."

Despite my down right grouchy mood, I let out a laugh at my bickering friends. They were the Snatchel twins, Maxim and Bexal. And then there was my best gal pal, Melody Pensic.

"A gasket is something that is used to seal another object so it doesn't leak," I explained quickly, "It can be metal, or rubber, or even rope."

"Gee thanks-"

"-Miss 'My Muggle Parents are Handy People'. Anyhow-"

"-It's not like we'll remember that. So-"

"-What's got your knickers in a knot?"

Once I had spent five years, going on the sixth full year, with the twins it was easy to keep up with their seemingly practiced twin routine. When I had first met them, however, it was a whole different story. Trying to keep up with their conversations at first was one of the most confusing situations I had dealt with. But by the beginning of the second semester in our second year I was an expert in the Snatchel Twins' language. It calmed me sometimes, their constant jumping rambles. It made me remember that it was not just me who was a tiny bit insane. I could never say the same for Melody, she found their habits rather annoying.

"Would you two cut that out?" Melody wearily asked, "But honestly Rowan, are you fine?"

My anger, which had been temporarily dismissed, flooded back. My face flushed with frustration, "If I hear one more bloody thing about that stupid bugger, heads will roll!" Each of my friends took on a different expression, but none of them looked to be even a lick surprised.

Maxim, the more joking one of the twins, laughed mockingly, "On about that git again, are we?"

Bexal, the one who actually used his brain for more than joking, shook his head with a smirk plastered in place, "I think it has less to do with HIM, and more to do with all of those drooling 'zombers', as the Muggles call them."

"Zombies!" Melody cried out, earning a few odd looks from around the Ravenclaw dinner table. Only being thrown off by the looks for a moment, Melody kept on her worried face and continued, "What's wrong Row?"

"Flesh eating monsters that were the creations of an eccentric Muggle. They write stories about them and such," I clarified once more to the twins, who rolled their eyes, before seething toward Melody, "And it's those damned fan girls who prance around after that boy! Why can't I be the only sane girl without being badgered for it?" Melody looked at my sympathetically while the twins snickered.

"I don't know Rowan, he's pretty attractive," Bexal sighed dramatically, obviously dripping with sarcasm.

"What _wouldn't_ I do to have him in my pants?" Maxim winked before swooning theatrically.

I slapped up some mashed potatoes from the dish before me, placing it on my plate before leaning over the table to whack them both over the head, "I'm not amused right now boys. Unless you want to risk the measly safety of your sugar quills, I suggest you refrain from taking a shat where you sleep. Now shush."

They both leaned back with puckered mouths, muttering something incoherent.

Melody eyed me as I stabbed my fork into a slice of turkey, cutting it viciously, "What happened?" Melody, even though she was easily irritable, acted more like a Hufflepuff than anything.

While we're at it, let me explain one more thing. The four of us made up a little group of friends and we called ourselves the Founders. It kind of stuck one day while we were in the Study Hall passing notes. Maxim Snatchel was the most brave out of us, so he was dubbed the Gryffindor of us. Bexal Snatchel was the most slick of us, the most cunning of us if you will. So he was the Slytherin of our group. Melody Pensic, an understanding and morally correct young woman, was the Hufflepuff of the group.

And then there was me. Rowan Robigam. I was pretty sure that the only reason that I was the Ravenclaw of the group was because my name is so similar to the Ravenclaw founder, Rowena. Then again, there was always my constantly running mind, always full of useless information.

The most humorous thing about these facts was that we were all Ravenclaw students. We weren't even half as popular as the Marauders, the pranksters of our school, but people knew us and knew our name. We were referred to as The Founders by several students, and the number of people who called us that only increased as the years went by and the first years became a part of the Hogwarts population. They didn't understand what it meant of course.

To answer Melody, I launched on, "You know how girls get, once they hear that you don't agree with them, they jump on your back and-"

Just as I was about to get into my story, Maxim butted in, "And ravished you?"

Bexal added, "Oo, la la!"

Before either of them could move, Melody had stomped on their feet, jumbling the table slightly. They both hissed and went back to being quiet.

"Continue?" Melody insisted pleasantly.

"It's been four years since that party where I told ONE girl that I just didn't find him at all enticing, and it's been four years of torture from his little fan club! He's a pompous, egotistic, arse! He uses women like one uses toilet tissue! Now, I can live with people thinking that I'm stupid and that I have bad taste in guys. But only if they can keep it to themselves! This is driving me up the wall because they voice their snide little opinions TO me, with their pig nostrils stuck into the air! Day in and day out, I have some girls giggling behind their hands at me, other girls glaring at me, and other girls still who confront me. Someone is going to lose their ovaries at this rate, I swear to Merlin!" I paused to take a drink of pumpkin juice, "This group of girls took all of my text books and shredded them, then tossed them down the Grand Staircase from the seventh floor."

Melody gasped, "What?"

"You heard correct," I sneered, picking up my bag and placing it on the table, flipping it open. Inside were the remainders of what had been my books and parchment, "I'm not worried much. I just summoned all of it up and I plan on booking it to the library first thing in the morning to find a spell that will put it all back together."

Bexal slammed his fist on the table, "And you just let this happen? What were you doing?"

"What do you think?" I snapped, "I was trying to get my bag back, I didn't even realize that they had my books!" I took a deep breath, "I just don't get it, we aren't in second or even third year anymore. Why can't people grow up? I mean, I'm not crazy to think that he's not that amazing, right? I'm not the only girl who thinks that… right?"

Melody bit her lip, "Well…"

I groaned and face palmed, "No! Not you too!"

"I mean- it's just that- Sirius Black is bloody brill! He has decent enough grades and the looks to make a… Should I shut up now?"

"Please do," Bexal coughed, "You're making us ill-"

"-And Rowan is looking pretty green too," Maxim added.

It didn't make sense to me, who could possibly be attracted to him?

"Everyone liked him at some point Row," Melody pleaded.

"Not me!" I exclaimed, "Not before, not now, not ever!"

Cackling, the twins looked to each other. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I darted my head to the twins, who were grinning their little arses off.

"Oh really?" Maxim acquired.

"Yes really," I calmly replied, gulping down a snide tone.

"Then we propose an experiment," Bexal said, folding his hands on the table, like the sly piece of shat that he is, "YOU are going to become Black's stalker."

"WHAT-" I snapped my mouth shut, my eyes narrowed, "Stalker? Someone who prowls or sneaks about?" I thought about it, "Explain."

"This'll prove that you aren't in any way attracted to him and that you'll never be attracted to him," Maxim reasoned.

"Right. You just need to be… a secret admirer of sorts. If you can seduce him into being interested, without letting on to who you are and you still stay true to not liking him, then you have proved yourself," Bexal explained.

Seemed simple enough, "Alright. Sounds good. But what's the catch?"

Melody groaned, "Rowan, don't do this, you KNOW you're going to lose."

I frowned, deeply offended, "What's that supposed to mean? I have will power! Besides, Black has no appeal to me. At. All."

"No, I didn't, you see, I'm sorry, but…" Melody desperately tried to get out an excuse or an explanation, but didn't really seem to come up with anything.

"Melody's babble aside," I interrupted, "What's the catch."

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Melody interjected dejectedly before slouching.

I ignored her; my pride was on the line.

"If-"

"-And when-"

"-You fall for Sirius Black…"

They both paused, and I can almost guarantee that it was for dramatic affect.

"…You will owe us big time. This summer you'll be driving us around all of Britain in that Muggle thing-"

"-That, what's it called? Oh yes, an auyomobil," Maxim said as his twin nodded smugly. Oh, they just loved being Purebloods with a Muggleborn best friend.

I stared at them, "You mean automobile. But I won't lose, so what do I get when I win?"

"We'll write all of your Charms essays for the first semester of school in our seventh year, if-"

"-And ONLY if, you can keep from falling for him. The last day will be the last day of our sixth year."

I nodded. I was an almost perfect student, but writing essays for charms was such a bore, "We have a deal."

And then we shook on it. First I grabbed Maxim's hand, taking in his wide grin. And then I took up Bexal's hand, sticking out my tongue at his smug smirk. Melody sighed deeply with a barely audible mutter over the innocent clattering of the students around us, "It's your funeral."

I glanced over to the Gryffindor table, easily finding the Marauders. They were jollily chatting, roughhousing, and shoving food into their mouths. Typical boys, they were. And I thought that Sirius Black would be as easy to manipulate as any other guy would be. And I had a lot of practice with manipulating boys. Several of them had come and gone over the course of the last five years. Three boyfriends, two 'lovers', and six admirers. Not much compared to Melody's record of eleven boyfriends, plenty of 'lovers' that I didn't bother to keep track of, and more admires than I could count on my fingers and toes.

Sure, it sounds as if Melody and I were getting around. But in a social environment like Hogwarts, everyone was experimenting and trying on each other for size. In comparison Mel and I were holy, we both kept our V cards intact that far. Not to say that everyone was shedding clothing left and right and shacking up for a quick shag, but we had relatively clean stories compared to some of the gossip flying around. In our eyes a lover was anyone who we did anything more than snuggle with who had yet to be titled a boyfriend officially. And through and through Melody and I kept our romance lives as private from the public as possible.

The same couldn't be said for Sirius Black. Everyone knew who he was with, how long he was with them, and how far he had gone with them. Sometimes I thought he was planning on being with every single decent looking girl who wasn't too young at least once in his Hogwarts career. In any case, stalkers were no uncommon to Black. However, I doubt that any of them had been as clever or as mysterious as I planned to be. To a boy who believed that he knew everything that there was to know about girls and thought that he could get any one of them to fall at his feet, I knew what sort of stalking admirer would be his weakness.

I grinned, "This is going to be too easy."

…

Any thoughts? Let me know! I would love to hear from any of you. I'm not entirely sure when updates will be about or how long this story will end up being, but I can promise that each chapter will be at least 2,ooo words and will range on and up to probably 1o,ooo words. Farewell for now. **Unedited.**


	2. The True Beginning

Hello, again, my lovelies.

Here is Chapter One! I do hope you enjoy my work. As the great Ani DiFranco would say, "If you like it, leave it be. If you don't, please do the same."

Yours Undeniably, Ralby

…

**Chapter One**

**Borderline Mocking: **_**The True Beginning Of The Sirius Black 'Stalking' Nonsense**_

…

It was early January when I made my bet. School came to a close in June, so I had six months to attract, seduce, and reject Sirius Black. All without him knowing who I was of course. So the morning after I made the bet when I rushed to the library, it worked to my fancy that I was reading up on paper charms and I found something that would help me out.

Once again at the Ravenclaw table, I sifted through my bag full of shredded paper and flipped through that book that I had borrowed from Madam Prince, the school librarian. Whisking my wand out from my sleeve, I cleared my throat and prepared myself to use silent magic.

"Hey girls. Good…" Bexal trailed off as he and his twin sat down at the Ravenclaw table, across from Melody and I, "What in the world is-"

"-She doing?" Maxim finished.

Melody rolled her eyes and scolded them, "Shush you two, she's mending her books."

"By pointing her wand and staring?" Maxim asked skeptically.

"Are you sure that she is alive," Bexal said dully.

"She hasn't flinched-"

"-Or blinked."

I ignored the twins and Melody. I flicked my wrist, shouting the charm in the confinements of my mind. The shreds picked themselves up and rose high into the air, flying around until they found their kin. I watched, satisfied, as my textbooks put themselves together in a very flashy manor. The books stacked in front of me and my parchment rolled before dropping into a neat row.

"See," Melody lightly boasted, "I told you." The twins stuck out their tongues.

"Well, this morning was rather productive," I started, repacking my book bag, "You'll never guess what I found."

"A secret passage to Hogsmeade?" Maxim asked.

"A cure for stupidity?" Bexal suggested.

"A cork big enough to shut these two up?" Melody said wishfully.

I shook my head at them all and answered, "I wish, not yet, and it isn't possible." I turned the pages of the book, looking for the correct page. I then propped the book so that they could see my findings. As they leaned in eagerly to find what I had discovered, I got the worst urge to close the book on their noses. But I did not.

"Brill!" Melody laughed, "In all honesty I never could have even fathomed such a thing. But then again… a 'Poof Charm'? What a silly name."

The twins looked like they didn't believe what there were reading. They were the ones that you always had to convince. You had to prove yourself and your findings. You had to have evidence and it had to be doable.

"What is it exactly?" Bexal asked, reading it through.

"It's like the disapperation of an object, it disappears from one place to the other and back again. Similar to a port key as well I suppose," I tapped my chin in thought before jerking my head, "Anyhow, the creator of the paper picks the destinations and from there it's really just the paper traveling back and forth. The paper is activated with the initiation spell and the second participant doesn't do anything. When the second person partaking is done with their message, as soon as they draw their wand to try to send it away, it goes. On the down side, it only works between two people and it'll take three hours to make the paper itself plus practice time to get the charm down pat," I explained.

Bexal frowned, "I should have known that you would have found a way to really conceal yourself, Rowan."

"Or should we say," Maxim nudged Bexal and Melody, "Rowena."

"Oh har, har. What a truly bad and overused joke," I grinned, "By tomorrow I'll be on that bet. Be ready to lose." I got up with a lukewarm bagel in hand, taking a bite. My long dark brown hair, that I had yet to put into a pony tail for the day, fell into my face but I was quick to toss it over my shoulder as I did something similar to my book bag. Class would be beginning within the hour so I had figured that I would throw together the paper and let it sit for my first two classes. I had double blocked Transfiguration and then a single block Potions class. After potions with one of my least favorite teachers, Profession Slughorn, I could jet back to the Ravenclaw Common Room in Hogwarts tallest tower to gather the paper and then pick up the information on the spell that I would need. The class that I was scheduled to have right after potions was ideal for personal research, seeing as no on truly paid attention. I could study the spell in my single block of History of Magic. The travel would be a hike but well worth the satisfaction of winning the bet in the long run.

"Don't get cocky!" the twins called after me. I didn't bother turning around, I simply waved two fingers above my head. A Founders farewell.

…

Sixth year is a year of decisions for all students at Hogwarts. On the very first day of the term of every students sixth year, they meet with the Head of their House at some point to discuss classes that they wish to take. Until our sixth year we are required to take the seven main courses of Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration in addition to at least two electives that can be dropped as the school years go by depending on your grades and your intentions. In sixth year each student drops certain classes to focus on the subjects that will be relevant to our career choice. Not to mention so we have a little less to study for when the N.E.W.T.'s, or the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, came about at the end of our seventh year.

Before, I was never entirely sure of what I wanted to do. That is, until I walked into Professor Flitwick's office and took a seat. My skirt was smoothed out and I was ready to get down to business, or rather confess that I didn't have a bloody clue of what I wanted to do with my life. But my Professor was not. He was scurrying through his stacks of paper and his face was washed in a nice shade of frazzle. For such a small man he really knew how to move around his classroom. He was darting around his desk, lifting and placing different papers into obscurely tall stacks.

"You will have to forgive me, Miss. Robigam. It seems as though I am the one having disorganization issues today," he commented with a tiny impish grin. My Head of House was a happy fellow who loved everything about his job and teaching Charms. Call me bias, but he was my absolute favorite professor in my Hogwarts years. His comment was a joke, which I was startled by but I was quick to make myself comfortable. After all, he was only picking on my tendency to keep a small group of friends that couldn't keep track of any of their work. The twins both owned school bags that looked as if a Erumpent had stormed around within the bags cloth walls and spewed it's explosive bodily fluid everywhere. Melody was a bit better, for she had an organized mess. She knew where everything was in her room or in her bag, but she was also a hoarder.

I shook my head, "It's fine, really. You would think that someone would come up with useful enchanted file cabinets or a quick charm to…" My voice trailed off. My eyebrows disappeared into my hair line and I tilted my head to the side in thought. Suddenly vast webs of knowledge and questions appeared and burned into the back of my eyelids. One piece of information was branched to the next and then from that piece of information there would be several others attached. It all clicked quietly to me.

It was silly that I hadn't come up with it sooner. It was what my parents had done, but on the Muggle level.

"I'd like to be an inventor."

After I said this and once my Professor had found my documents we set to work with coming up with my schedule we had plenty of time left in my appointment. The gray that was streaked through his dark hair and his slowly wilding eyebrows were two of my favorite traits about my Professor. Nothing compared, though, to his passion for his teaching job. The amount of waddling that he did around the Charms lecture hall with a small but toothy grin warmed my ambitions to learn and be successful. If a man can be completely content with a job as a teacher to instruct several hundred students a year watching them come and go, witnessing them sprout right up to their prime from the small little first years that they had been, conversing with intellects of his status on a day to day basis, then I could most definitely find something in this multicultural world to make me content. I would find a balance in my community, whether it be more in the favor of the Wizarding world or the Muggle world.

With a swish of his wand Flitwick set us up with two chilled flukes of apple cider. The neck of the glass was a shimmering navy. With a closer look I could see that there were flecks of silver and gray swimming in the glass. I love magic. Like the true Ravenclaw that I am, I whipped out my informative and analytical essay on the Aguamenti charm and we chatted about its origins until the next student arrived, knocking on his door for his schedule concerned appointment. It turns out that I dropped Astronomy, Herbology, Divination, and my Ancient Runes class that I had loved so much. It left me with Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Muggle Studies, and History of Magic. Why in the world would I keep History of Magic you ask? I planned on dropping it in my 7th year, but for my 6th year it served as a forced Study Hall... or an opportunity for a nice nap.

Setting the paper up was the most difficult part, it involved both Potion making skills and Charm skills. I arrived to my Transfiguration class with only moments to spare with a smug grin on my face. I spotted Bexal in our normal seats. The twin was quick to read my expression; a frown tugged at the corners of his lips. The class, who had already been seated and paying attention to the black board at the front of the class room, paid me no mind. Professor McGonagall on the other hand loosely laced her arms in front of her torso.

"Cutting it rather close, aren't we Robigam?" she peered at me through her bifocals. From her strong poise and her kept hair I could tell that she was having a good day. McGonagall on a bad day consisted of toe tapping, finger drumming, and an overly extended neck. So rather than stay quiet to avoid all possible conflict I gave her a smart smile.

"Just close enough, I'd hope," I replied. My text book slipped right into the desk and I held my wand close to my side. The newest topic that was being worked on was more complex physical transformations. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Connie Macksod giving me a dirty look. Her chin was crinkled with a peeved pout. Macksod's straw colored hair and her pale green eyes were very distinct; she was one of the few faces that I had picked out when the little posse of girls surrounded me and mauled my texts and parchment. Listening to my Professor, I flipped open my text book to the corresponding page with a flap of my eye lashes at the disappointed girl.

"You can be so confrontational sometimes," was muttered quietly.

Cueing an eye roll, I turned to my friend, "Bexal, dearest, to be confrontational would include me going face to face with her and all of her pals and telling them that they are arrogant little snits who would find it in their favor to stop harassing me. Flashing the fact that I mended my books that I need to pass all of my classes is hardly confrontational, if even that. I would have to be hostile, or even defensive."

It was very, very rare that we spoke during this class. More or less it was because McGonagall enjoyed us in her class. When I first attended her class in my first year I was sure that she would only favor Gryffindor students, the house that she was the Head of, but she proved me wrong. Through and through she proved to be a fair teacher who based her favoritisms on hard work and success along with good citizenship. I can't say that I was ever one of her very favorites in my school years, but I can say that I was appreciated in her class. But moving along…

Bexal only gave me a knowing look, "And you aren't at all hostile?"

"No," I shrugged, "I deal with it as it comes. If they move for another swipe at me I'll become hostile. I'm not looking for a fight." It definitely upset me more than I would ever say. The day that a Wizard showed up on my front stoop and explained that I was magical and that he was trained to recruit and inform Muggleborn students of their situation was the best day of my eleven year old life. When I learned that I was a Witch I felt as if I was being extracted from all of the silly nonsense that went on in my home and at my school. The trouble that my parents were having with my grandparents on my fathers side, the boy who would sit behind me in every class and yank on my thick braid, the woman who was the cross walk attendant who obviously hated her job seeing as she was grudging to let us pass. They were situations that I thought would disappear in the new world that I was being brought into.

But even more than all of that social conflict, I thought that my academic stand point would change. Even as a little thing with apprehension toward starting school when I was five, my greatest love has been to learn. I took it upon myself to learn many things and as classes became more advanced I challenged myself more. I wasn't completely knowledgeable, but I was breezing by in my Muggle classes. I knew what we were learning and if I did come across something new in school I could swallow it with ease. Almost as if it was kids play. And to me, it was. There were times where my parents could find me up in my room reading the dictionary or I would bring in an atlas to school with a pack of stickers and start plotting out all of the wondrous places that I wanted to travel in my lifetime. The subjects that I was learning in Muggle school paled in comparison to the other subjects that I was reading about on my own. Gaelic and Greek and Nordic myths, astronomy, the theories on numerology and astrology, homeopathic remedies, mechanics, women's rights, different analytical essays on the media's affects on society, and the list goes on and on.

And then I was introduced to the fact that I am a Witch. I'll admit that neither of my parents knew what to think, but they were relieved that my odd abilities- for instance when I landed softly when I toppled down from a pine tree or when I turned the braid pulling kids' skin a pale green with red polka dots- were not unexplainable. They're technical people, inventors, intellects and the thought of having a daughter who could do the unfathomable shook their hackles. Any answer, no matter how much they did not understand it at the time, pleased them.

And it pleased me, greatly. I was beyond ecstatic about the thought of being a Witch, and even more so about going to a boarding school far away from home with other children like me to learn about our abilities. I was going to be able to turn all of my knowledge thirst to a foreign, out of this world, society. To think about going to classes thrilled me because it wasn't like my old school, I wouldn't be learning about math and English and writing and all that jazz. The way that my recruiter spun the tale of Hogwarts, it sounded as if I'd be learning plenty about creating antidotes and learning how to change not only the appearance but the literal composition of an object.

Unfortunately, Hogwarts is not that much different from a Muggle school. There is still drama and there are still plenty of reasons to be unenthused about a class.

Though I could never find a reason to be unhappy to be taking my classes.

Apparently that's odd though.

"'It' being the bombardment of petty pranks that come your way?" my friend drawled. While he sounded perfectly uninterested, the slight vibration of the desk said otherwise. When Bexal was stressed or in his first staged of aggression, he'd bounce his leg up and down. He could hardly control it. In front of our desk another student turned his shoulder to give us a moment of his disheveled time.

"Not scouting for a brawl, eh? No truer Ravenclaw words spoken, Robigam." While I did know that winning my bet would be simple, I'll admit that I wasn't expecting for my job to be so easy that none other than my targets best friend would address me, joining in on my hushed conversation with Bexal. The target himself was sitting to James Potter's right while Remus Lupin lounged studiously to his left, keeping up with McGonagall's lecture. Peter Pettigrew, the final Marauder, peeked meekly over at us. His eyes darted between myself and James.

I spared the kid a smile and shrugged, not conversationally. Bexal on the other hand scoffed lightly, "I don't think that Ro would be able to hold up in any sort of brawl." He was sore after he said this though. Or rather his foot was, for it was crushed under the heel of my shoe.

"Not everyone has the time to drop everything and go to detention for any single insult spewed at them," I bit back lightly, resting my chin in my wand hand palm.

James leaned over the gap between his chair and our desk tsking all the way, "Detention is not as awful as you're making it out to be, lass."

"Well, I'm certainly not dying to find out," we all paused as McGonagall's form turned toward us. As if by magic, har har, all of us shifted in our seats in the slightest as to make it look as though we hadn't been whispering and had in fact been taking notes. Or in some cases, simply listening avidly. My own hand was quick to drop my wand that I had been twirling mindlessly and switch it out for a quill. I had her eye contact when I did so, but I doubt she bought it for a minute. McGonagall only specifically stared us down in her lecture for a few minutes before she moved on. That time, when the Marauders turned to look at Bexal and I, it was all four of them that gave us their attention.

"You know, you'd probably get picked on less if you stuck up for yourself every now and then," Sirius Black mentioned off handedly, "I'm sorry doll, but I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm-"

"A student at this school would have to be daft to not know who any one of the Marauders are," Bexal interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Sirius was quick at the ready with this and just as I thought Bexal might bounce his leg right off of his body I cut in swiftly.

"Rowan. And this is my friend Bexal, I'm sure you've heard of both of us in at least one of your classes over the last five and a half years. And you've probably been seeing doubles of this one," I plucked Bexal's nose with the feather of my quill, "He's got a brother. A twin. Or something like that." How sick was I of pompous boys ruining my once smoothly running life? Pretty damn. For years it had been indirectly, but I was not having him shove his haughty attitude down my throat in person and I was surely not letting him be a down right git to my best friend right before my eyes.

Sirius Black grinned almost wickedly at me, "Sharp little thing, aren't you?"

"Sharp? Naturally. Little? I'd advise you not to use that term to describe her," Bexal all but snapped, "She get's a wee bit violent." That was true. But probably not what he was truly feeling. It was more like he was getting testy and would soon be too frustrated to properly function in class, let alone while talking to them. This exchange happened very quickly, almost before I could get it under control.

"I'd think that Robigam would be able to answer for herself," James Potter simply leaned forward with a challenging look set in his skin.

The paler boy of the Marauders, Remus Lupin, spoke up calmly from his half turned position, "She'd probably be obligated to be the first to answer Padfoot if he weren't referring to her as a 'thing' of sorts." After Remus said this, no one seemed to pay him any mind as Bexal's feathers ruffled further. I think it was then that I confirmed Lupin as my very favorite Marauder. As if it hadn't been confirmed by the fact that he was, by far, the most intellectual and he was not a contributor to the torture that Potter and Black inflicted on innocent bystanders. In addition, he wasn't a complete stiff. He clearly took part in harmless and humorous pranks. And he was obviously a sweetheart in a less than desirable situation. Monthly he would disappear from the castle and go visit his ailed mother.

I rolled my eyes.

"The testosterone level in this general area is off the charts right now, you all need to chill your bones and set your man to man quarrel to rest," I managed to jump in and pull Bexal back into his seat just as McGonagall turned and slammed the book that she was reading from onto her desk. Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, and Potter didn't move nearly as quickly as we did. Unfortunate for them, I'd say.

"Boys! Is there something terribly interesting about the back of the class room?" McGonagall barked. I felt good to have my own studious pretense going but Bexal only looked up at the professor with very wide eyes, as if he was the one caught red handed. His foot felt the wrath of my keep for the second time that class and his leg stopped jumping. His face smoothed out. His shoulders relaxed.

The Marauders broke into laughter. While Pettigrew tittered nervously and Lupin laughed soundlessly at their own misfortune, Black and Potter chuckled suavely. Straightening out in their seats they flipped open their text books.

"What could possibly be more interesting that the complex Transfiguration of facial structures?" Potter asked.

"But, if you must know, the guys and I were admiring the smiles of those lovely Hufflepuff girls at the back of the room," Black cheekily commented. Everyone turned and looked at the three girls who were sitting four desks behind Bexal and I. They lit up in a bright red color. The entire class scoffed or laughed at their reaction. Black winked. Lupin went back to his studies. Potter grinned widely.

And then Pettigrew said, or muttered even, the very first words that I had ever heard from him in the whole five and a half years that I went to school, "And not just their smiles." The girls flinched back with a cringe as they saw Pettigrew give them a finger filled wave. Everyone close enough to hear him, the Marauders and Bexal and myself, were thankful that no one else caught what he said. For Pettigrew's sake, that is.

"That's quite enough. Five points from Gryffindor for distracting the entire class." There were a few scattered moans, but it was no loss to Bexal or myself. Class came to a close and luckily I had no more contact with my little target. I had been worrying very much that Black and his friends would be on our back about not admitting to also talking in class. I dreaded them deciding that we would be good targets for some more pranks seeing as we hadn't stepped up to our own little transgression. But it was no weight on their load, I guess, because they didn't even acknowledge us on their way out. I was also worried that the more that Black heard me speak, the more I would stand out. And the more that I interact and stand out with and to Sirius Black, the more likely it would be for him to suspect me when I put my plan into play. And I was not having that.

"We learn a bit more about him all the time," Bexal scowled, "He's a jackass."

"Oh, Bexal Snatchel, I already knew that," I waved him off then added, "And for the record, you don't need to feel obligated to stick up for me in front of all of them. I would have been fine." Just as I about to sign off from my Bexal time, a female tailored white button up in addition to a Gryffindor tie stopped me cold. None other than Connie Macksod slunk in front of me with a casual smile.

"I see you put together your satchel again, Robigam," Goodness, sometimes I wished more people would just call me by my first name. Macksod teetered on the balls of her feet and batted her eyes at my friend, "Bexal, I hope you don't mind if I steal her away and walk her to potions." Both Bexal and Maxim have that class with me, in addition to Melody. But before either of us could express that the Gryffindor girl was dragging me off.

"Just who do you think you are, talking to him? Talking to _them_ for that matter!" I was pulled around corners and down stairs. Her long straw hair swept back and forth with every forced hip swing that she swung, "Ittle wittle Robigam finally realizing that Siri is worth her time?"

"No, not even in the-"

"Well, too bad!" she erupted as we neared the class, "You better stay away!" And then she tossed the wrist that she was holding down, stopping and turning a 180 degree turn to fix me with a glare. I rose an eyebrow. She wasn't kidding.

"You're mental," I walked past her and toward the potions class room, "I share classes with him, don't mistake that for anything else."

She didn't move at first. She simply opened her mouth and shut it again with a pause before shouting, "GOOD!" and storming off to her next class. Whatever it may have been, since she didn't have good enough grades to make it into the sixth year potions class. When I did reach my class, Melody was waiting outside for me per usual. She was watching the interaction between Macksod and I from the large dungeon door.

"What a dolt," she accused weakly. She wasn't very keen on making harmful comments when we were not safe at our Great Hall table or somewhere that was Ravenclaw dominated. I appreciated her attempt to cheer me up from my dull boiling mood.

"A blockhead indeed," I snickered, "And speaking of which, time for potions, Helga Hufflepuff." We joined arms in a joint decision to wait for the Twins in the classroom. Remus Lupin entered the classroom only moments after us, sending me an apologetic look. Melody giggled into her hand, but I shrugged back to him with a miniscule smile. No harm done, my Gryffindor acquaintance.

…

Long day summarized, Potions was successful and studying in History of Magic was perfect. At first I thought that I would have to worry about perfecting my knowledge on my charm due to the fact that both Potter and Black were in my History of Magic class, but I soon saw that they took the class for similar reasons as I; to nap. During that class I also came across a paper charm that would probably work better with my plan. The paper was like a Muggle messaging board. There would be one batch of paper and all of that paper would receive and keep the same messages written. For instance, if the batch only had two pieces of paper and I was to send one of these pieces of paper to Black we would be able to write back and forth to each other instantly. It would certainly cut out the little issue of having to worry about the paper appearing in mid air during class. Or even worse, during dinner where someone is bound to see it appear with me.

It wouldn't matter if it were to appear to him at any time. In fact, it would have been interesting if the entire school knew that Black had a dedicated, borderline creepy, admirer. Even though it sounded fun, I would wait to make any sort of advance like that. I had to milk this experience for everything that it was worth and the entire process had to make it successfully until the last day of school. I had to play my cards correctly.

So there I sat with my Poof Charmed paper, my first message all written out.

'**Sirius, **

**I can't say that I wanted to wait this long to confess, but seeing as I won't be leaving a name or even a clue, we'll have to wait a while longer. I dare to say that I'm infatuated. Your longer black, curled and mused hair. Those two bright gray eyes that shine when you laugh and smolder when you smirk. When I say that your height…'**

What was meant to be a final reading of the message that I had written so carefully turned into me taking out my magical ink remover and getting ready to start all over. I groaned loudly and smacked my head on the surface of my desk. I've heard very little about the dormitories of other Houses, but I know that some of the odder traits of the Ravenclaw house included the fact that every Ravenclaw student had an individual desk that had shelves so that there was an opportunity for a personal library. Our beds also were on the odd side. Our four post beds had a normal mattress and then in addition there was a hammock hanging from two of the opposite bed posts. Maxim figured it was because those people with bright minds need creative learning space.

"Having troubles?" Melody asked sympathetically and plopped down on her bed. She had come up with me right after dinner while the twins went to the library to write our most recent potions essay. When Mel and I had gotten to our dormitory, the other girls were still in the Great Hall or at the library… or anywhere else in the castle, really. Curfew wasn't for another hour and three quarters.

"Trouble. To disturb the mental calm and contentment of a person. To worry or distress or to even agitate," I muttered mindlessly, "I'd say so. The first letter is turning out to be more troublesome than I had expected. In fact, this draft in utter rubbish…" She took the letter from my desk and scanned through it.

She threw her head back to laugh. This went on for a few moments before she tried to get herself back together. She bit her bottom lip and mildly acquired, "You signed it with, 'I would say, "Merlin bless you," but it looks like he already did."' Really, Rowan? Who did you get that one from? Daniel?" For a split second I was offended, but then my face burned red. Daniel, the first boyfriend that I had at Hogwarts, had said that to me. It was how he hooked me for our first date to Hogsmeade only weeks before we became official.

"Like I said, it's rubblish!" I defended myself spiritedly. I took the paper from her hands grumpily. The paper itself was a creamy beige and about a foot long and seven inches in width. My ink was a red color that I had somewhere stored in my trunk for when I would revise my classmates work upon request before they would hand it in. Melody and I started a small business on it. For each paper that we corrected we earned one Galleon. I planned on switching over to green ink for the corrections though. There were a lot of extra security steps that I would be taking to make sure that I don't get caught… and because of that I also planned on taking up a bet revision with Maxim and Bexal. For all of the extra work that I was going to be doing, I wanted a better prize for when I won. In exchange I was sure that they would want a more risky prize in terms of if they were to win.

"You need to be more casual, that's all," Melody aided before gathering her stuff and heading toward the bathroom, "Don't be so stiff. So much like a robot."

Watching her honey blonde head disappear, I scrunched my nose, "I am not a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command."

I looked over the letter again. The first one sounded too formal. Perhaps if I was trying to court Sirius back in the 1800's the letter would have been great. The way that it was written though it would only be a matter of time before Black would suspect a Ravenclaw. I didn't want him to be able to pinpoint a House… so I'd need to be more gutsy to show off some Gryffindor traits. I needed to be a bit more mysterious and slick to embody Slytherin traits. And I needed to be kind, at least, to keep him from thinking that I couldn't be in Hufflepuff. I took my ink remover and began to brush it over the old message. And then I let it dry.

Bexal and Maxim had been teasing me during dinner.

"Good luck with first transaction-" Maxim chimed.

"-You'll need it, you stiff dictionary reading brat." Bexal smacked me hard on the back. Still I frown at the memory. Despite what many people think, I _am_ a girl! Well, most people know that. All people should. But many people forget that I am a girl with, quote on quote, 'feminine tendencies'. _I can write a pinning and infatuated letter_, I thought viciously, _This is not challenge that will defeat me. _

I began to write, not pausing once as I wrote the letter. When I had been writing the first dud I had taken an hour and a half to come up with the letter. However it only took me fifteen to write out the letter that I actually ended up sending.

'**Sirius Black, you are one of the most attractive, quick witted boys here at Hogwarts. The amount of pure sass that you throw around to teachers, students, and even the local ghosts somehow brings a smile to my face no matter when, where, or how you come about it. Your hair hangs flawlessly and you all but saunter around the school as if you own the place. In a way, I guess you do. Everyone knows you and everyone loves or hates you. It's always one or the other. Either way, you are on their mind a lot. And let's face it, I'm one of the poor saps that has you on my mind often. **

**I didn't plan on waiting so long to tell you. I also didn't plan on confessing under the pretense of an anonymous letter. But I couldn't take it, I was too restless. Every time your gray eyes look at me, or in my direction, and they gleam with a laugh or smolder with a smirk, I can barely stay in my seat without burning. I want to be closer. I want to. And in moments like that, I almost feel like I need to be closer. But I know better. **

**Silly, isn't it? I wonder where this will take us. I'd hope that you are curious as well. I'll be waiting for your reply.**

**Yours, Ace.'**

The clock above the dormitory entrance read half past seven. Wand in hand, I muttered the incantation and it disappeared before my eyes. If only I could see Black and his friends when he received it. There would be no sweeter victory than to fool the biggest fool at Hogwarts.

Ah, I lied. The sweetest victory would be rejecting him at the end of the year and earning my prize. None the less I was thrilled to have begun my project. My hands found my latest light reading book, _Jinxes for the Jinxed_, and I settled on my bed. When the clock read quarter until eight, something appeared out of thin air only inches from my face and fluttered quietly over my nose.

Right below what I had written was a new message. I turned it over a few times and my veins races with anticipation. The writing was round and curved at the tails but was also tightly wound as far as spaces betweens words went. It was interesting in comparison to my sleek, slim tall, and light handwriting. He wrote in print. I wrote in script. That was another security step I took though. I only write in script on special occasions, so if he were to ever get a hold of one of my school essays there would be no comparing the letters that we would be sending back and forth. I mentally made a note to find and read a book about hand writing analysis. It would be a good weekend read.

Rather than just addressing me my the name that I had signed, Black doodled a single little spade. I fancied it, the symbol was cute. Perhaps I would sign my notes as Ace of Spades.

'**ª, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long, though I can't quite figure out how to send this back. You didn't rightfully attach any instructions, did you love? I make you hot, do I? Tell me your name doll and maybe I can help you out with that. -SB'**

SB. Sirius Black, he thought that was going to be a rendezvous with a air headed bimbo. Sadly, I was never Connie Macksod and meeting him was not in the plan. I wrote back immediately. It was too predictable that he would be making innuendoes and inviting me to shag in his first message.

'**Sirius. What an offer, I'm melting already. But there is no chance, sweet thing. I'm glad that you're curious. However, I'm not easy. I like to play games. -Ace of Spades'**

I kept it short and sweet, to the point and sharp. I send it off and I was only waiting a handful of minutes before I got my response landing in my lap.

'**Games are fun but I'm not much for chasing, Ace. Thanks for the affections though, lass. This'll be the last you get from me.' **

My breath caught but I wasn't having it. Just then, however, Melody came back with wet hair and a towel draped over her head, "Did you come up with something new or did you finally take what I first said yesterday into consideration? This whole bet is a bad idea, you know."

Unceremoniously I took the towel from her and handed her the paper without a word. As she read she uttered her catch phrase, "Brill…"

"I guess so. But know I have to go in for the kill. He seems to be getting bored because I'm not going to lay him any time soon. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Melly, he's a bloody git," I stripped right then and there and began to get ready for bed. I would shower in the morning.

"What were you expecting, he's Sirius Black!" Melody laughed, "At any rate, what are you going to say back to him?"

I pulled on my Holyhead Harpies sweatshirt, shimmied into a pair of loose sweatpants, and tugged my hair into a messy bun for bed, "The truth." She didn't look so sure in her curious silence. I wrote back what I intended on saying, let her read it, and then set the message on its way.

It read, **'You may not be much for chasing, but this is going to eat at you. Sleep on it, maul it over. I know that I'll be hearing from you sooner than you think. I'll see you in my dreams. -Ace of Spades' **I knew he wouldn't be contacting me that night. I gave him twenty four hours at very best before I expected a letter from him,

Melody, on the other hand, wasn't so sure, "Do you really think he'll ever get back to you?" I only fixed her with a look. She raised her hands in surrender, "Okay, Rowena Ravenclaw. I don't doubt your prediction. I only hope for your time's sake that you get a response. It would really exhaust all of your extra time this coming summer if you had to be a personal chauffeur to the guys. You'd probably drive yourself up a wall and I would not be willing to come along for the rides every day. You'd be on your own!"

"You mean that I wouldn't have any time for you so we wouldn't be able to go to all of the free concerts that we usually catch. And you don't want the twins coming with us to every one of those," I poked her before flopping into my bed, "Don't worry. Our concert hopping won't be sacrificed."

"What was it that they said earlier? 'Don't get cocky'. I know you're confident but being too sure might be what kills your chances of winning in the end."

I didn't respond right away. Instead I tossed a pillow up into my hammock and readied my book by marking my page and tossing that up there as well. She was right but having no confidence is almost as back as having too much. I told her that and she considered it before agreeing. We could agree to disagree on more than one topic. She thought that the whole bet was stupid and I thought that the bet would lead me to a bit of inner emancipation from all of the humiliation that the unofficial Sirius Black fan club put me through. I thought that Black was a worthless toe rag that needed to be put into place somehow while she thought that despite all of his less desirable traits, he was still to die for.

After double checking to make sure that I had completed all of my homework that was due and at least gotten a head start on anything that had been assigned to be due in the next few weeks, I decided it was time for some rest. My figure rolled into the hammock with a practiced grace and I cocooned myself in the blankets that I had stored up there. It was cold, as most January months turn out to be. Even the dorm rooms were chilled despite the heating magic that was cast on our room, but no one ever found the heart to complain. We simply bundled up and curled to our hearts content.

"Good night, Melody," I called out.

She yawned back from her cozy lump on her mattress, "Sleep tight, Ro."

I tried to calm my brain but I couldn't get to sleep right away. I kept thinking about my new challenge.

The feeling that was igniting my bones was excitement.

…

Thoughts? Let me know! I would love to hear from any of you. This chapter is 7,585 words long. It was fun to write, and I really hope that you don't mind that it took me a little over a week to get it out. Sunny side up, I _am_ working! And I love my job. Farewell for now! **Unedited.**


	3. Haircuts

Hey guys!

I just thought you would all like to know that I already have a sequel planned for this series. And I definitely plan on getting that far. In fact, I might divide year six from year seven and then have my next idea as a second sequel. I've been dwelling on these plot lines since 2008, so I hope not to disappoint. Anywho! Chapter two! Enjoy.

Yours Unregrettably, Ralby

**OH! P.S. POTTERMORE. Whateventhefuck. My life? Complete. I signed up on the first day.**

…

Chapter Two

Borderline Mocking: Haircuts

…

The Marauders were already at breakfast and having a great time by the time I walked into the hall all alone. Ahead of me I could see the twins and I, more or less, rammed into them in order to take their normal seats. Sitting strategically was key in that case. Out of the five tables in the Great Hall, the Ravenclaw table was the second furthest from the Gryffindor table. The furthest table from the Gryffindor table was the Slytherin table, since the two Houses seemed to battle it out any time that there were any less than ten feet away from each other. Between my House table and Black's house table was the leftover House table of Hufflepuff. And then, naturally, there is the High Table where the Professors and Dumbledore himself would sit and enjoy their meals. I made quick glance at the Headmaster but as soon as I realized that he was looking back at me, I ducked my chin to my chest. I could have sworn that the old genius had winked at me, but I wouldn't ever be sure.

When I dove into a seat, which the twins had been planning to take like they do every day, they let out loud shouts that unfortunately gained the attention of a small group of Slytherin boys. They looked as though they could smell how first generation my blood was. Or as they noted it, how much of a Muggleborn I was. How much of the "mudblood" I was, if you would wish to get hip and happening with the Slytherins.

"What is so bloody important-" Maxim barely caught himself from tripping on the end of his robes.

"-That you need to _shove_ your poor-" Bexal reached out and caught his brothers shoulder.

"-And completely innocent-" The other twin nodded in thanks.

"-Best friends, around?" I was already sitting with my back toward the Gryffindor table. The boys that had been glaring at me from the green dressed table only rolled their eyes before hunching over again for conversation. The twins, oblivious to the small exchange, each put an arm on the table next to me and fixed me with a down right vexed look. I set down my daily school supplies.

"Innocence would indicate flawless purity. It's something that neither one of you two have," sheepishly, I looked up with a wide grin, "And besides, switching things up every now and again won't do any harm." They, in unison, narrowed their eyes before trooping around the table to settle across from where I was sitting.

Bexal didn't believe it for a moment, "Stealthy of you, isn't it, to sit with your back to your little pen pal."

"Brilliant, actually," Maxim chimed, "Minus the fact that you have now unleashed the hell that is the Snatchel twins-"

"-No one steals our seats and gets away with it."

Just as I went to open my trap and snip a bit of wit at them, a piece of paper appeared and fluttered from the air. Luckily it was only a third of a foot in the air when it arrived, because otherwise it would have been difficult to conceal. Snatching it quickly, the parchment was nuzzled in between two leaves of a textbook that I had flipped open. I yearned to look over my shoulder, but I couldn't. If I wanted to get caught then perhaps it would have been a good idea. But clearly I did not.

"What it that?" my friends asked loudly. I put my finger to my lips. Recognition crossed their faces with a small painted 'o' on each of their lips.

"Is he looking over here?" I demanded.

The twins looked over my shoulder with distinct curiosity. They leaned out of their seats with warped faces and scoped out what I could only guess to be the Gryffindor table. Should I have lunged over and yanked them into unsuspicious positions? No. The two boys looked normal enough, I reasoned with myself, no need to over react. I was just on edge.

"The Mermaid is scanning the entire hall, along with his crony Grindylows," Maxim reported with a quick salute.

Bexal affirmed with a chin stroke, "Yes, yes. They are searching the Great Hall. It's funny to see their heads snapping in ever direction franticly. They can't decide where to look."

"Mer_maid_? His crony Grindylows? Honestly?" I was quiet for a few moments, "At least we know he isn't brain dead. If he hadn't thought to try to seek me out this way I would have thought otherwise." I pulled my text book right in front of me and turned to read the note.

'**It's good to see you at breakfast.' **Panic. The clattering around at the Ravenclaw table went unheard by me. The breath that my lungs tried to draw were short and rough. Embarrassment. _I've lost the bet. I've made myself look like a fool. Melody was right and I would never hear the end of it. The rumors would spread so quickly. _I could feel my pulse in the hallow of my eye. My hands were shaking.

I looked over.

He wasn't looking back. Instead the back of his head was turned my way. His wavy hair was in its typical 'fluffed with relaxed waves' look that he probably did in the morning with twenty minutes of his time. Even I don't spend more that five minutes on my appearance in total. That doesn't include showering, putting on my uniform, and gathering my book bag. I put on the occasional eyeliner around my eyes and then would dry my hair with a quick spell. I never did much with my hair other than dry it and put it up.

Noticing that I had been staring at him, lost in thought, I brought myself back down to earth. Air came back into me and relieved my momentary anxiety attack. Of course he didn't know who I was. He was bluffing.

"You went a bit pale there, Ro. You alright?" Maxim teased. Sparing him a look, I shrugged.

His brother didn't take just that though, "Is everything okay? What does it say?"

"He was trying to pin his admirer by catching me off guard. He set it up so that if he did happen to see me receive the letter, it would look like he had known it was me from the start," I winked at Bexal, "Sounds like something our Slytherin Founder would do." The easy look on his face disappeared really quickly.

"Don't compare me to _him_," he crabbed back.

I leaned back a bit with a wave of truce, "I give, I give. You've never acted so harshly when it comes to a Founder pun, no matter how bad it was."

"No!" Bexal snapped, "I meant _him_- Black." I looked at Maxim for help but he had his attention on his porridge, completely avoiding the unusual situation. I couldn't find the right words to say, and Bexal didn't seem to think that he needed to say anything else. He could have been waiting for me to reply, but there wasn't any way to uncoil his knickers. He was damn stubborn.

I took a page from Maxim's guide and pretended to be deeply involved with something. I took out my quill, the red ink that I had brought with me, and my wand.

'**Oh, Lovely…' **I began, **'I haven't gotten to breakfast yet. Whoever you thought I was is a wrong guess. If you play my game you might have better luck guessing next time, though. Maybe I'll see you in a bit?' **I sent it off immediately. Glancing around my table I was glad for the distance between all of the little groups of students. Perhaps not literally, but there was an unspoken law, an unmarked line, that the Ravenclaw's definitely didn't often break. We stuck with friends. We weren't hostile, but we were private. Or at least I liked to believe it to be that way. As long as we weren't raising our voices or going out of our way to be quiet, no one would try to tune in to our conversations.

There were certain things that we all came together for though. For instance, Quidditch brought us all together quickly. We all wanted our team to win and before any match the entire table was abuzz, making bets and gushing over our projected victory. Exams also changed the dynamics at the table. During Finals we all study with one another.

"Black just got your message. They're all huddled around it now," Bexal spat. He grumpily took Maxim's bowl of porridge and took a hulking bite before shoving it back.

I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat. I decided to close the topic as soon as possible after updating them, "You two will be happy to know that I had my first contact with the target last night."

Bexal frowned, "Clearly you did." Maxim stayed quiet for a moment before looking at me curiously.

"While I'd love to hear all about it, and the failure that will be closing in on you soon enough, I feel like it's more important to locate Melody," the other twin scanned around the Great Hall.

I shrugged, "Don't get too wound up over her not being around at the moment. She has a new boyfriend, it seems. She wasn't in bed when-"

"FOUND HER!" Maxim shouted. He launched up and stood on the bench that he had been sitting on with his wand arm stretched out. His twin straightened up immediately.

"You mean," Bexal paused for effect and then leaned toward his twin with a wiggling brow, "You found our fourth founder? Found her? Founder? Get it?" Slamming my hand over my mouth to try to hide my mirth, and to preserve some of Melody's dignity, I pulled the end of Maxim's robe to get him down. He grudgingly hopped down. Awkwardness was forgotten for the moment.

Many people turned to look in that direction. Sure enough, an embarrassed Melody was scurrying our way. Her hand was up in her tussled hair. My friend was multitasking. One hand was busy rearranging her blonde locks to the best of her ability while her other hand covered the side of her face in a half hearted attempt to be hidden from the entire student body that was eating in the Great Hall. Just as the girl came into ear shot, I leaned down on the heel of my palm.

A smug grin wound up on my lips, "I take back what I said about her having a new boyfriend, boys. Tousled hair, a walk of shame around the Great Hall, embarrassed exterior… Dare I say it?"

"Oh, shut it!" Melody ground out half heartedly. She was still several feet off from us.

"I do dare!" I exclaimed with a growing grin, "Melly has a lover!"

_SMACK!_

_Sliiiiiiice._

…

And that would be how I ended up with all of my hair clean chopped off.

Now, before anyone jumps to any crazed conclusions, give me a moment.

A full explanation involves the fact that because there were so many students who were looking at Melody with curiosity, she got beyond flustered. I thought it was bad enough that she was sending me a glare to end all glares as she continued to get closer to our table. But then, to top it off, the Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team walked by Melody and gave her a firm smack on the bum. I guess the whole student body knew, then, who her lover was.

She accidentally preformed wandless magic. Good bye, waist-long hair. Hello, spunky pixie cut! I didn't have time to be even remotely upset because as soon as it happened Melody was misty eyed and pleading with me, begging for forgiveness. I could only look at the pile of hair on the ground that had been hanging around me, waiting to be put up into a bun only moments before.

Then I smiled at her the best I could and chirped, "I guess I don't have to worry about singeing the ends of my hair in Potions class anymore."

She looked ready to run. The twins stood from their seats and I wasn't far behind with my books cradled in one arm against the swell of my hip. The other arm found its way around Melody's shoulders as I followed the Snatchels' out of the Great Hall. Her shoulders were quivering under my arm, She was trying to keep in her tears. We were still only steps away from the exit when the paper appeared with me again. I nearly walked right into it at the pace that I was going. It would have fluttered to the ground if I hadn't thrown out my arm that had the books tucked into my side. Once the paper was cradled into my side too, much to my luck and relief, only one additional thought came to me..

Trust in Sirius Black to be enough out of tune with the presented drama going on in the Great Hall that he was able to respond to an admirer.

Melody was quiet for the entire walk up to the Ravenclaw tower, save for her miniscule hiccups every so often. I almost wished that she had kept on the quiet side because the hell that she released on us once we were in the Common Room was terrifying. She wretched herself out from under my arm and then dove onto one of the couches with a despaired sob.

"I can't believe that just happened!"

Cautiously I followed her in towards the couch, "Try not to think on it too much, in a few weeks- in a few days even- no one will even remember that Seeker." I balanced myself on the edge of the cushion and laid a hand on her back.

"No! Not that!" She quivered, "My mistake Magic!"

"Oooh…" The twins crooned. Mel, even once she went to school, had some issues with controlling her Magic. While most kids master how to have their Magic under control at all times after their first year at Hogwarts, Melody still struggled even by our sixth year. It's wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when she and I first became friends, but certain things happened every now and again. For instance, sometimes when she sneezed the ends of quills would explode, shooting a steam of ink at the writer. Or, in worse cases, a nearby window would rattle and crack when she was under too much pressure. She was very touchy one the subject and the three of us stood around her, still, before realizing that there was a group of under years lounging only a few couches away, watching us with wide and curious eyes.

"Oi!" Maxim called out. He was quick to approach them and begin ushering them out, "There's nothing to see here, why don't you hoodlums head downstairs for some grub? Classes are going to start shortly."

"A hoodlum is a bit out there," I joked to Melody, "They're third years. Hardly a bunch of thugs, yeah?"

Melody choked on another hiccup as if she didn't hear me and muffled into the cushion, "Classes… Don't remind me!" I spun some kind and quiet words while I continuously rubbed small circles on her back. Behind me I heard Bexal declare that he was going to go and fetch a Sugar Quill or two for our blonde friend.

"It happened again… and in front of the whole school!"

I couldn't help but laugh a little, "You had your bum assaulted in front of the whole school and you care more about the fact that you gave me an unexpected hair cut?" Her figure shifted on the couch uncertainly. Maxim returned next to us after getting ride of the third years, but only stood without a word.

"… Yes?" She admitted.

I shrugged, "If you thought it looked that bad on me you could have just said so."

She rolled to her side, "That's not it! I mean, your bangs could use a small snippit trim but other than that I think it looks brill…"

"Then I don't see a problem here," I laughed out loud then, "Come now, sit up," Lugging Mel's thin body up was more of a challenge then you would think, "You get better and better at having full control. When was the last time this happened?"

She winced, "During the summer," A Sugar Quill appeared along with Bexal. The blond accepted the offering and then stood with a broken up sigh, "I'm going to wash up quickly."

We watched her slump away. Maxim claimed that he needed to feed his pet cat and also slipped away and up a dormitory staircase. I was still plopped on the couch while Bexal lingered, standing.

Guilt began building up in my chest. I had, after all, been the root of his poor mood, "Listen, about earlier at breakfast…"

The Slytherin Founder twin shook his head, "Forget it, I mean, I've already forgotten about it," I tried to protest but I was silenced, "Really, don't."

I furrowed my brows, "I just didn't know what to say. You reacted-"

The Snatchel twins are experts at interrupting others, "'Sorry,' would have done just fine."

An apology. Of course. Why hadn't I thought of that? Oh, right, because I could be a down right thick and headstrong social introvert when it came to conflicts. I could have dug my heel into my own foot if it would have not looked so odd. And if it wouldn't hurt as much as I knew it would. Instead of self inflicting pain in the house elf fashion, my lips offered a small smile, "I'm sorry."

He didn't reply. We waited for our the other two. Unsurprisingly, Maxim was down the stairwell first. Like most mornings he was nursing new battle wounds. His cat, Mogo, was a playful fighter. That morning there wasn't much blood, luckily. The twins bid me a goodbye and headed off for their Herbology class. The school supplies that I had been holding were sitting on the floor in a small heap. On top of it all was the paper. The note would become more and more of a troublesome device. It made itself too obvious to everyone that was around me when it arrived. If it became more familiar to more people, my victory was in even more jeopardy than when the Twins go craning their necks obviously or when they draw attention toward our little Founder group.

I reread the message that I had written and then looked at his response, **'What if I'm calling your bluff?' **

I scoffed, I had already determined that he was a lying boy trying to seem sharp, **'You'd be pushing your luck, Sirius. **_**I'll**_** see **_**you**_** later, but I doubt you'll be able to pick out me. -Ace' **I drew my wand, spoke the incantation, and put the paper out of my mind for a moment. I had Charms for the first block of my day with Melody. We sat in the very back row where we could hear Flitwick but he couldn't see us all that well. It gave us an opportunity to chat away during class. It was easily one of my favorite classes and though the classes required plenty of notes and I could fall behind, I never let it bother me enough to get stressed over it. I've managed to pull through with every school challenge that I had to face that far. That, and Melody was a brilliant multitasking young witch who made sure I was up to par with class.

Just as I had meant to make myself comfortable, the note arrived once more, **'I'd watch my back if I were you. I don't think you know the trouble that you're getting yourself into. ;)'**

The red ink that I was using looked so dramatic compared to his simple standard ink, **'I'm going to go out on a limb here and sound like a bit of a stalker: Why would I watch my back when I have the opportunity to be watching yours?' **I may or may not have snickered at myself when I sent it out, but it was short lived. Melody appeared while I was caught in a grin.

"It's time to dish, Ro. I want to know everything that happened and better yet, I want to read it." She looked a lot better. Whereas she had been blotchy and swollen with tears before, only the off color of her eyes showed any possible distraught.

"I'll bring you up to date on our way to Charms, we're going to be really bloody late if we don't make our way down now." She nodded, hiked her book back on her shoulder, and followed my lead out of the common room. The riddle statue bid us a good day. The paper fluttered to the ground in front of us. Before I could reach for it Melody had it and was reading through it.

"Oh, he's pretty clever for a Gryffindor. Looks, grades, wit, and an out going personality. You're in for some trouble, for sure," she caught the dirty look that I was casting her way, "Not that I doubt your solid disposition or anything…?"

Rolling my eyes I held out my hand for the note.

In Black's recognizable hand writing it read, **'Hate to break it to you love, but you are a stalker.'**

Smart ass.

…

I didn't ever get substantial haircuts. My dark brown hair had always been a good handful of inches past my shoulders. Getting used to the weight difference was bizarre. On the other hand, the snickers that the Black fan girls sent my way wasn't out of the ordinary. I slid into my seat for Charms and set out my note taking parchment for show.

"Nice new look."

I looked up to find a face of a Hufflepuff girl. She was settled at a table in front of us. Her voice had been sweet enough but her giggling friends gave away her intent. She was unrecognizable; just another student who was in my year. I didn't worry myself with knowing everyone at school by name, I wasn't exactly a social butterfly. I shrugged before turning my attention to Flitwick. He was standing at his podium.

"At least her looks now match her attitude," I heard while I buried my nose in my notes, "You would think she's a bloke with the way she acts."

I let it roll off my back, glancing at Melody. She was looking at the Hufflepuff girls with a terrified expression. Harassment never really registered in her head since she was constantly walking around with her head down to avoid making awkward eye contact or glancing around to watch the interactions of the people around us. She blended into the background like a beautiful wallflower. Like a elegant scenery painting. Plenty of people knew her, and plenty of people admired her, but not many knew about her. It wasn't a surprise that she didn't say much.

Instead of getting caught up in some sort of drama, I went back to my note with Black.

'**Stalker? Tell me something that I don't know.'**

You would have thought that he would be in class too and therefore the answers would be delayed. But within moments the note was back. I scolded myself for assuming that _Sirius Black_, of all people, would be constantly vigilant in class, whichever one he was in.

'**Something you don't know… hm. I'd really like to know who you are.'**

Pfffft. Here he goes again trying to ruin our correspondence in exchange for a quick broom closet rump fest. I threw some of his own words at him, **'**_**Hate to break it to you**_**, but I already knew that.'**

'**Can't blame a bloke for trying. Alright, tell me what you want to know?'**

I tucked my quill into my chin. What did I want to know? Personally I could care less about what he wanted to tell me. There was plenty that I knew about him. Between the fan girls gushing about who his new girlfriend- cough, play thing- could be, the harsh words from the very same fan girls about the ladies that he was with, and the gossip mill on its own, I knew more than I wanted to know. A better question was: what would Ace want to know?

I settled for, **'What's your favorite Quidditch team?' **It wasn't the best of ways to continue the conversation, but I certainly didn't want to ask about something too straight forward. I could have put something about his favorite snog spot to lead him on for a bit, but I wasn't ready to toss him around like that quite yet.

When I got my response I almost wished that I had, though, **'What? No, "What's your favorite hair color on a girl?" Or, "What's your type?" I'm surprised.'**

I bit my lip before jotting down a response, **'What can I say, I'm not just another one of your fans.'** I had sent it before I could think it over. I nearly smacked my hand to my forehead. The point was to seem like a more intellectual fan girl to keep him hooked. Not give him another possible clue to who I could be. Get a grip, I mused.

At first his reply didn't lighten my mood though, **'I guess not. How about this, for every question you ask, I get to ask a question in return?' **there was a gap between the first line and the answer to my question, **'I have a lot of faith in the Montrose Magpies, but my favorite team is the Appleby Arrows.'**

I grinned at the irony, **'The Montrose Magpies are bloody good. Their track record of almost thirty wins in the British and Irish League says that much. I've never been much for the Applyby Arrows. By default I adore the Holyhead Harpies, but my close second favorite team is the Winbourne Wasps. And, questions in return? Sirius Black, hit me with your best shot. ' **Off it went.

Black was a Gryffindor. I figured he was going to try to shoot a lot higher with his question than I had with mine. Whatever he asked I'd have to avoid the truth, but at the same time I would have to avoid lying. I was already lying enough by shaking him off my trail that morning in the Great Hall. I wasn't truly up for spinning a desperately complex web of lies that I would have to keep up with, for the simple sake of a bet.

A bet that I **WOULD** win.

Beside me Melody shifted and then elbowed me gently in the side. At first I didn't respond so she nudged me again, "Ro, you should really come up with some sort of way to contact him that isn't so… flashy." The Hufflepuff girls turned to us and shushed us loudly before turning back again. I made a face at the back of their heads.

"Flashy. Showy and gaudy…?" I trailed off in a whisper, "I suppose I agree. But I already have it planned out. Not to worry, I'll start working on it tonight." She nodded before turning back to her notes. Kindly enough, I could see her taking notes for the both of us. Merlin bless that girl and her thoughtfulness. I considered it to be her own round about way of supporting my bet. By the time I snapped back into mind, the paper was sitting on top of a turned open page of my text book.

'**Fancy that, some of our favorite teams are arch rivals, ha. Where do I start with questions? What House are you in?' **I stared at the parchment for a bit. How dimwitted did he think I was?

It was a better time than ever to see what he thought so I could adjust in a way that made him even more unsure than I already thought him to be, **'You can't really expect me to answer that, can you? Why don't you take a guess?'**

Our noted were getting closer and closer together in arrival time, **'I would hope you're in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw.'**

'**And if I'm in Slytherin or Hufflepuff?'**

'**Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad. You aren't in Slytherin, are you?'** If I could remember correctly, his brother was in Slytherin, as most Black kids had been in the past. Or so I've heard, anyway.

'**I don't know, you tell me. Careful, you wouldn't want to insult me now, would you?'**

'**No, I don't think you are.'**

'**You'll never be sure about that, though, will you?'**

'**Maybe not. I've noticed that you as a lot of rhetorical questions.'**

I had half a mind to tell him that I was surprised that he even knew what rhetorical meant. I didn't respond to him but instead decided to tune into the second half of Flitwick's lecture. We were learning about more advanced charms than the Sunstantive Charm which we had learned the prior year. There was a small slot of time where we were to practice. I was quick to partner up with Mel. By the time we were to sit back down for a conclusion lecture half of the class was frustrated with the new material while the other half managed to start getting the grip of it. They by the end of the next Charms class we would be concluding that lesson.

I jotted down field notes from our practice so I could do a bit of practice later in the week before sending another note to my target.

'**Oh, and looking back so we can talk about me being a stalker? You don't seem to mind.'**

He sent back a reply with vigor, **'And here I was thinking that you were done talking to me for the day. ' **There was a pause in his writing. It was an interesting way to organize his thoughts.** 'No. I guess I don't mind. I could use a little mystery and mischief in my life.'**

'**Hun, you already have plenty of mystery and mischief in your life.**

'**I don't think I know what you mean. ;)'**

I rolled my eyes, of course he didn't. Lying git, **'You're one of the Marauders. Sure you don't know.'**

'**Hahahah! Touché, madam Ace. You've got me there. Class is going to end, but be sure to know that I'll be looking out for you.'** I imagined him writing this with a grin set into his skin.

'**Good luck then. You'll need it.' **Melody was reading over my shoulder, catching herself up with the recent notes that I'd been sending back and forth with Black. She looked thoughtful, but didn't comment. I sent off my addition.

'**Don't count me down and out of the game so soon.' **The page was close to full and I knew I'd have to switch out the papers soon. I'd have to end the conversation until then.

'**I'll admit that I don't know much about you. But I did know you'd play my game.' **

Flitwick concluded his class, reminding us that there would be an essay due after the next time that we met. The class shuffled as they collected their materials and began to make their way out of the classroom. In my ear my friend was talking about how she would like to have myself and the twins work on the new material with her, since she had a bit of trouble with it at the beginning. I nodded and told her that it would be no problem. I could have used the group practice too. Once the twins had the class I had no doubt that Bexal would have it down pat while his twin would be straggling. Charms was one of Bexal's best classes and one that Maxim needed practice with. The two wanted to become Aurors and would stop at nothing to reach that goal. Melody, on the other hand, needed to master Charms so she could be a successful magical portrait artist.

For me, Charms was important in my planned career to be an inventor to the Wizarding world. I do apologize if I go on about my friends often, but I was raised by two parents who insisted that the small details matter. That, and my friends are some of the dearest people to me and my heart.

The note appeared one last time before I left my desk space, **'Then you know more than you think.'**

I was sure to store the paper in a dark and unreachable spot in my bag before we made our way down the stairs to the floor that Flitwick taught from. He congratulated us on our work for the day and sent us on our way.

…

It was a less rigorous day for me, after my Charms class I had another block of History of Magic and then I was free for the day. Melody made her way to her Arithmancy class just after she gave me a quick few words of wisdom. "Don't continue with your bet in the next class. You'll be caught and look like a fool." Of course, she said it sweetly and with the best intent. Thank you, Mel.

Fellow students were fluttering around, scurrying to their next class, and talking to their friends that we attached to their hips.

"Nice hairdo, dyke!"

I faltered in my step but then continued on. It was just another girl that I didn't know trying to ruin my day. I walked as fast as I could without looking as if I was running away from the situation. My sight was so focused on the ground that I only realized that someone had fallen into step with me when they spoke.

"I still think that your life would be a whole lot easier for you if you would tell them to sod off." My skin nearly jumped from my skeleton. That voice was more recognizable than I would have liked. Sirius Black peered down at me while he kept up with me. He was Magic of History bound, too, and so were his friends Potter and Remus. Those two were hanging back a few steps, seeing as I could hear them discussing something about a 'furry little problem'. Whatever _that_ meant. It sounded like one of them had a rabid pet. Black's strides were longer than my own and more calm. I noted that he was at least five or six inches taller than I was.

Frowning, I tried to speed up some more, "And I stand by the fact that it isn't that easy. In any case, who asked you anyway?"

He didn't have to try at all to stay by my side, "It was just an observation, love."

I came to an abrupt stop near the door way to our class, "Thanks for trying to help out, but I didn't ask for your 'observations'. And don't call me that." Maxim strolled around the corner on the opposite end of the hallway and was closing in on us, much to my relief. Before Black could reply I had hooked my arm with Maxim and steered us into the classroom.

Black stayed outside of the doorway to wait for his fellow trouble makers, but he called in after me, "And I do like the new hair cut! Your blonde pal did a good job!"

Mocking me. Lovely, Black. Simply charming.

Wanker.

…

Pffft, this is a whole lot of fun to write. I hope it wasn't too tedious to read, I didn't realize until I was writing this chapter that having Sirius and Ro send a single paper back and forth would be so repetitive to write. Rowan is going to find a solution for it though. She is, after all, looking to be an inventor.

Some questions for you all to ponder upon: Does Sirius Black have any ideas about who his admirer is? Was he really mocking Rowan? How does the careers that the Founders have interest in tie in with later sequels that I have planned out? And how will the characters and the plots develop as time goes on and the first war period sets in?

Like I said, I have a lot planned for J.K. Rowling's characters and my own original characters. Hopefully I can keep you hooked through it all.

I'd like to give a special thanks to my reviewers! To **Volks** and **Volk's Friend**, I'm glad that you read it and enjoyed it. Volks, you're my favorite Banana. :3 To **PICKLES**, I finished! And by the time that you read chapter two, you'll be begging for me to write the next one. My hoodlum, rest easily knowing that I've already started on it. Finally, **imogen**, I was ecstatic when I got your review. I thought that my fiction had gotten lost in the HUGE Harry Potter FanFiction archives. I'm glad that someone saw it and read it. I try really hard to develop my characters and have them live up to the smarts that I've given them.

This chapter is 6,334 words long. _Thoughts? Let me know! Until next time, lovelies. _**Severely**** Unedited. **


	4. Sorting Hat Memories

_So. Unedited. I'm __so__ sorry. _

Hello again. Sorry for the wait, guys. I hope you enjoy this chapter! However, it is **a lot of filler**. I wanted to have this chapter be about twice as long as it is, but **I'm going camping for the next several days**. I won't be back and able to reach my computer until the **27th**. Also, Rowan is going through a bit of an odd patch. On top of that being because the chapter was rushed, it's also because she's getting caught up in what's going on. Don't mind her temporary lapses in judgment. Or maybe you should get used to them. XD Rowan has a lot of growing to do.

With Love, Ralby

…

Chapter Three.

Borderline Mocking: Sorting Hat Memories

…

I didn't hear much more from Sirius in the next several weeks. It seemed as though he only wished to spare me one insult about my new look before he let me be. It was a relief. The buzz around about my public haircut was silenced in a weeks time, luckily. Melody was back at ease and I didn't get passing sneers about the shortness of it. Personally, I really enjoyed my new look. I hadn't ever credited myself for having a sharp face, but the new length and the choppy pieces that framed the sides of my face looked just fine, in my opinion. It definitely boosted my confidence. It was something that I wouldn't be telling anyone, though, because I feared sounding cocky. Or even worse, conceited.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that year, Professor Grillbron, thought it was a riot when she first saw it. We were nearly done with class when she stopped in front of my desk to drop off our last essay that she had corrected. The parchment slid onto my desk I was satisfied with the gleaming "E" that was topping my own handprint.

"I had heard a few things, but I didn't know if I could believe it. But I've seen it now!" Professor Gillbron gave Melody her paper as well, "In your seventh year you'll be learning more on wandless magic, how to use it and how to defend yourself against it. But for now I guess we have a little pixie joining us for class!" She was a young teacher and one of my favorite Defense teachers that we had in our years. She was easily only in her late thirties and was excessively tall. She normally was seated next to Flitwick which made for a comical contrast.

"It's a shame that we already learned about pixies a few years ago-" Bexal interjected.

"Practicing how to get rid of pixie pests doesn't sound like a half bad idea," Maxim crowed. Melody stifled a small laugh. It was much better than the reaction of body shaking sobs that she had let out when the incident was still fresh, so I didn't administer the usual pain shots to the twins.

"Trust me," I leaned on the palm of my hand, "If I knew how to get rid of pests as large as you and I, you two wouldn't be in my hair so often."

Defense was the only class that all four of us chose to sit in the front for. Myself and Melody sat in a desk on the left of the class and the twins in a desk on the far right.

"Don't you mean the lack there of?" they bellowed before keeling over in giggles. Yes, giggles. For that one I picked up the ink well cap on my desk and chucked it at their heads. While Bexal ducked out of the way, the glass rock knocked right into the top of Maxim's bent over head. Once it left me hand I straightened out in my seat and started collecting my supplies.

"Hey!"

Our professor only chuckled with the rest of the class, "Now, now children. Let's play nice!"

Potter piped up from the back of the classroom, "Yes, Founder children, play nice!" None of the Marauders had ever addressed us by that so each of us looked back at him momentarily, wondering what had stuck him and if he would be calling us by that for very long. Potter had Pettigrew to his right, Black to his left, and to Black's left was Remus. After looking to Potter for guidance, Pettigrew took after him and gave us a large cheesy smile. Black was grinning just as he normally does; with a smug little glint in his eyes. And Remus, bless that mess of a boy, looked as if he was sorry.

"Never! You have to understand-" Maxim slammed his open palm onto his desk top.

"-As Founders it is out job to keep it naughty!" Bexal explained in a much more calm voice.

"We've got to set an example, you see!" they chorused.

Melody folded her hand over her face and slid down in her seat The twins looked quite proud of themselves. They were propped up against their desks so that their chairs were only standing on two legs.

"Some example you two make…" one of my hands was used to comfort Mel's disappointed shoulder. The other was picking out a Knut from a side pocket in my bag. A girl has got to keep stocked up on ammo. And when in doubt, any sharp girl knows she needs to improvise.

…

_January 7__th__._

'**Good morning, Lovely.' **He and I had fallen into calling each other certain names within no time. It was all for fun. The entirety of our passed notes seemed to be an on going joke between two strangers. He was used to me calling him Lovely and Handsome. I was used to him addressing me by Love, Madam Ace, or…

'**Morning Miss Stalker. I hope you slept well.' **Sometimes the first messages of the day were sent as soon as I woke up. Or, on the off chance that he would keep the note the previous night, I would wake up to a new note. Once I got into the swing of things, the whole routine became more and more simple to keep up with.

'**Oh like a new borne babe,'** Which was a lie, I had been up all night working on a different way to contact him. I wasn't able to rest my head until the witching hour of three in the morning. Getting used to the paper was getting easier but it was still causing trouble. Finishing the alternative was of utmost importance, **'How'd you sleep?'**

'**I slept fine. Was I in your dreams?' **He was in a nightmare that I had. My mind was fussing over getting caught. I had to keep reminding myself that I was taking plenty of steps to avoid being in that situation.

'**Yes, yes you were.' **There wasn't a point in lying on that one.

'**Would you care to share your thoughts with the class, Madam Ace?' **No, I didn't want to share with him.

Instead I fathomed up a quick story that could do, **'It was simple enough. I felt a pull toward the library. It was spring, since the greenery was starting to sprout outside but it was still cold enough for a jacket and a scarf. I cranked open the library door and low and behold, you were there in the library, for who knows what reason seeing as you aren't really the bloke to be lingering there for the books and studying. **

**I moved behind you as quietly as I could, discarding my scarf and checking my hair. My dream self is much more gutsy than I, seeing as next I tossed my scarf over your eyes and began drawing you into one of the deeper corners of the book archive. You weren't too worried, you had a handsome smirk on your lips. Once we were tucked far enough away from Madam Pince's desk and all of the other students, you plucked the scarf from my hold and took my wrists into your hands. **

**But you know enough about me to know that at least half of the time I like things to be in my control. I took the power of our combined weight and walked you right into on of the book cases, broke off your grasp on one of my wrists, and began running my finger tips over the ridge of your enticing jaw. From the swell of your bottom lip, down, over, and then up, ghosting over the hallow of the top of your throat, and then resting my hand near your ear, wrapped in a handful of your hair.**

**I woke up then.'**

I was blushing by the time that I sent it off, I hadn't written something to a boy like that since my fourth year boyfriend, Dan. It was hard to swallow. And the fact that I was writing full blown love letters to one of the most undeserving gits in all of Hogwarts made the whole situation that much more hard to bear. Or were they lust letters? Eh, I wouldn't get lost on the definition. It was all the same if it helped me win the bet, right?

Much to my surprise, all I got back was, **'I need to know something.'**

'**We'll see exactly how much you need to know once you ask the question.'**

I was waiting several minutes that Saturday morning in my dorm for his answer. But like the early bird raises, the response returned, **'How exactly is this going to work?'**

Hell, even I didn't know. More or less, the notes would go on until the last day of school. Then I would tell him that it had been a joke all alone. A prank on the prankster? Over all else, it was a bet won. If I could have it my way, he would never have my identity.

'**I'm playing it by ear. Trust me. ;)'**

…

While the haircut comments stopped, the typical harassment from fan girls continued. There were hallway tripping incidents, times where I would find my essay left on the ground after one of my classmates had collected them for a professor, and there was even a time where a girl had thrown an unethical amount of belladonna into my cauldron. That had resulted in the cauldron to explode and completely cover the classroom in a goo that smelled of rotten eggs and flesh. We all had to evacuate the classroom while it was cleaned out. Students individually got rid of the gross concoction from their robs, but a small bumped rash broke out on each of our bodies.

It was such a scene that Madam Pomfrey had to bring what looked like half of her Hospital Wing down to the dungeons. Needless to say, no one was very happy with me. Even Professor Slughorn, who had never ignored my nor truly acknowledged my typically near perfect work, made a point to single me out before he left us in the hall to put his classroom back together. I didn't retaliate against him when he told me that another incident like that would earn me detention. My mouth was sealed when students sent me glares or snipped at me as they scratched their skin. Melody and the twins never left my side. Mel stood close to me, only turned a bit so she was slightly behind me. And the twins flanked us, one of them on each side.

Only after we were administered an antidote for the odd rash did I turn to the Slytherin girl who had tossed it into my cauldron and shrugged, "I know it was only a small explosion and a bit of a rash, but perhaps it will teach you to quit meddling with cauldrons that don't belong to you. Especially when handling one of the most poisonous and influential potion ingredients. Belladonna is highly temperamental." Without regard to the fact that class hadn't yet been dismissed, I left. My Founders weren't far behind.

That's just one incident amongst the many that happened in January. Being used to it, I only continued on with my chin high. I found solace in the fact that my alias, Ace, had Black more interested than any other girl had managed. Most of his play things didn't last longer than a week or two. Ace, on the other hand, was able to keep him talking for many weeks. I was able to keep winding him around my finger.

The twins weren't overly enthused at the fact that I had yet to lose. Melody began showing signs of being proud of me, as if she hadn't expected me to be able to get that far but was more than happy to congratulate me on using my smarts to get it done. While I wouldn't ever confess that I liked my new haircut, Melody would never admit out loud that she approved of my game. In principal she didn't like the thought of anyone using another person. It was illogical to her and she feared that it would cause more trouble than it would be worth. Sometimes I felt really poorly about the whole deal. Using my own ability to fool someone so badly was wrong. I tried not to think about how I would conclude the year, or specifically, how I would reject Black.

Instead I thought about the sweetness of victory. On top of the twins writing all of my Charms essays for the first semester of our seventh year, they also agreed to provide me with an endless supply of Acid Pops until we graduated. You see, Acid Pops are to Rowan Robigam as Sugar Quills are to the Snatchel twins.

Black and I passed notes, so to say, everyday starting from the evening that I had first sent my initiation. Since then I had come into contact with a lot of Gryffindor students. Unconsciously I was drawn toward the house which wasn't known to happen. Before I left home for Hogwarts my mother had told me that she would be proud of me no matter what happened in my future.

"My daughter," she let tears fall down her face for several minutes at a time before pressing the ladybug sized canary yellow button on the side of her spectacles. A pair of metal bars swept down like windshield wipers and dried the salty trails up with the wads of clothe that was sewed onto them. It was her very own invention. I had personally always thought of it as silly, seeing as the device didn't handle the dilemma of a running nose, but I would never have the heart to tell her that or the fact that they made her already large frames look even more bulky, "A magical Witch! I never would have even thought. Well, minus the hairless feline that we bought you growing out frothy white fur… or that one occasion where you wanted to go water diving so badly to see the fish out on sea that they bottom of the boat and it's pontoons became entirely translucent. In any case! You'll make myself and your father happy no matter what you do! The concept of houses only will separate you from opportunity. It's silly, really, don't let them get in the way of you flourishing!"

No one ever listened to Mom. Not even one of her four sisters and three brothers. I never even believed that Dad listened to her ramble. She just talked too much sometimes. My father, on the other side of the coin, was precise. Even if it resulted in Mom thwacking him on the back of the head with her PHLER. Or, in long terms, her Pesky Husband's Ludicrous Expectation Remover. You may know it as a broom. Just a cleaning broom, though. Not a flying broom. Or an enchanted broom. We're proud to admit that in the Robigam house we use a Muggle broom.

"Get into that red and gold house," Dad quietly mentioned. Quiet yet firm, my father raised me to know what was up from down, what was right from wrong, and what equality stood for opposed to discrimination. He hands were all bandaged up to cover all of the blisters and nicks that he had accumulated over the summer as he worked on crafting something that he liked to call a mobility telephone device. It had been an idea that had been worked on the in the 1950's without much major success, in Dad's point of view anyway so who knows how reliable that is, and he wanted to be the first to craft a easily handheld wireless telephone. Apparently that included him welding a screwdriver. And _apparently_ the screwdriver was a tool that did not get along with my father, "You're a brave girl. Never seen anyone with a left hook quite like yours. And you sure as all hell haven't ever been afraid to use it. Plus, you've got to have more than an inch of courage in you to keep up with your gymnastics classes all this time."

That was Alieta Robigam nee Andrews and Owen Robigam for you. A loon with a lust for odd inventions and a boastful inventor with a yearn for success. Despite the differences, the two fit better than two peas in a pod. I thought so, anyway.

Point is, the Sorting Hat didn't agree with my father. I tried with all my might to concentrate on the Gryffindor house. Instead the hat cackled to me, "_Muggleborn, ey? Fresh blood, it's very refreshing to sort. You may be brave somewhere under there, but you'll have to earn that right to courage. Until then, build on what you have going for you right now_… **RAVENCLAW**."

I was upset and generally avoided the Gryffindor house. The next summer after school I quit my gymnastics class, repetitively insisting to Mom that I quit so I could focus in on my summer studies. I'm only a decent liar. My strength is less in lying and more in stealth. I quit because all ambition to be brave enough to compete drained from my recently turned twelve year old body. Dad was undoubtedly disappointed but never uttered a word more about my sorting after he asked in a letter. "These owls," he wrote once, "They really enjoy nibbling. I never thought I would see the day where I realize that owls are smarter than we give them credit for. In any case, as your mother would say, congratulations on your sorting. Bring us home some stories about winning that House Trophy or whatever the recruiter mentioned."

Moving along to my free period all on my own since the other three Founder had classes, I decided on studying in the Great Hall since I figured that no one would be there at such an odd time. Lunch ended ages ago so at most I suspected that House Elves would be scurrying around with sponges, scrubbing up the mess that the Witches and Wizards of Hogwarts made at every meal. Just as I was beginning to understand the inner most workings of bewitched mirrors, I stumbled into the top of our class at that moment. I would know, it was a very stiff competition between her, Remus Lupin, and Xenophilius Lovegood who was a fellow Ravenclaw.

"Ouff!" I stumbled back a few steps and nearly plopped down on the ground arse first. I managed to catch my reading material before it escaped through the cracks between my fingers. The other girl stayed on her feet as well but her book shot to the ground. Several tiny little papers fluttered to the ground from within her book. We both dodged down to pick up, "I'm sorry-"

She tossed her long ginger locks out of her face and looked up in earnest, "Oh no, really, I apologize-"

I shook my head and shuffled what looked like class notes together, "I wasn't paying enough attention to where I was going…"

She tittered a laugh, "My attention was tucked in a Potions textbook."

"And mine was wedged between the pages of A History Of Charmed Mirrors," her laugh was contagious enough that I was chortling too. I returned all of her loose leaf parchment to her. We were babbling like idiots over who should take the blame over a little bit of a knock down, "Look at us, two down right book worms."

"I guess we aren't much better or worse off than the other, then," she shared a smile with me. Her eyes glittered, "I'm Lily Evans. We've had plenty of classes together over the years and I've heard some things about you." Well, if she was smiling genuinely, then whatever she heard couldn't have been too bad. And if it was then she was not judging me for whatever awful things were running through the gossip mill.

I stuck out my hand for her and she was speedy to take my hand and give it a firm shake. Green eyes, lush ginger hair, and a shining exoskeleton. Oh, yes. She was the all infamous Lily Evans. James Potter, the bifocal wearing and bed head flaunting Marauder himself, had been following her around like a wounded woodland creature since our third year. The whole ordeal was anything but a secret. I envied how little she seemed to deal with Potter's fan girls. And there had to be plenty. Generally speaking, if you were a Marauder than you had a following of girls after you. With the exception of Peter Pettigrew. (Poor thing.) While I was being taunted for not wanting anything to do with a Marauder, Evans seemed to catch a miniscule amount of trouble for having Potter hound her all the time. Then again, many were witnesses to her impressive wand work.

"It's nice to finally be introduced to you. I'm Rowan Robigam. I'm surprised that we haven't been paired together for any class work," I shifted my book from my hip to rest in front of my stomach, "I'm also surprised that you've heard anything about me and you haven't gone strolling in the other direction."

Marlene McKinnon, though she was a great witch as far as wand work goes, she was a fickle little thing that truly couldn't stand my presence. It was almost as if my mere existence made her ill.

We both moved into the Great Hall where I unconsciously followed her to the Gryffindor table- where she belonged- and sat down across from her. We were some of the only students there. She closed her textbook after organizing her notes and waved her hand at me, "You don't torment others, you don't cause disruption in classes to the point where everyone else cannot proceed, you're intelligent, and you seem downright approachable now that I've literally run into you. I think that's grounds for me to want to be friends with you, Robigam." I blinked once. Twice. Thrice. I had never had someone address me as frankly as I tend to address others.

"Plus," Evans tacked on, "Us targets need to stick together."

"Absolutely. It's nice to have someone on the same page…"

Being friends with a Gryffindor didn't seem to be looking to be such a bad idea as I had thought when I was younger. And Evans, or Lily as she ended up begging me to call her, turned out to have even more distaste towards Potter than I ever had toward Black. Yes, it was the start of a lovely duo.

…

_January 16__th_

Half way though the month I realized that I was already a twelfth of the way finished with the bet. Five and a half months seemed long but before I knew it I would be in the Hogwarts Express on my way back home for the summer. Maxima and Bexal would owe me my sweets. They would be grouchy about losing and therefore being required to stick to their word of writing my Charms essays. Melody and I would be on the prowl for concerts that we could catch. Most of which would be Muggle concerts, since that was what my parents would find out about for us. My parents and I would be traveling to Germany to hike. These were the things that I kept in mind. It were things like these that gave me the drive to write to Black every day, **'You're looking as fine as ever today. Did you do something new with your hair? -Ace' **

'**I can't say I have. But thank you, love. If I knew who you were, I'd be able to tell you that I like the way that you're wearing your hair. Or that your skin is delicious to touch.'**

How I wore my hair. Funny. **'I'm **_**still**_** not that easy, Sirius.'**

'**Drat.'**

'**I'd give you credit for trying, but I know you can be more creative than that~'**

…

_January 24__th_

Black continues to try to find out who I was in every way that he could possibly think of. For instance, when he asked, **'What's your least favorite class?'** I thought that he was just starting a quick and east conversation to pass the time, as we had been known to do in the past few weeks.

'**It's Potions, without doubt. Mostly because I have a low tolerance for Slughorn. What about you?' **

'**I loathe History of Magic.'**

'**I didn't think that would matter. Don't you sleep in that class?'**

'… **How would you know that, eh? Perhaps Little Miss Stalker has History of Magic with me?' **I stopped being remotely worried when Black guessed something correct about me. He asked so many questions and made so many guesses about them that it was hard to take any of them seriously. And if he was correct on the matter than it was easy enough to sway him on the guess. When there are so many possibilities and solid clues aren't being given, it's tough to come to a conclusion to feel comfortable enough with to stand behind it without doubt. For that reason I sympathized for Black. I hate running around in circles. It must have been bloody hell from him.

'**Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. Everyone sleeps in that class. Even most of the Ravenclaws.'**

'**Hm. Suspicious.'**

'**Darling, you said that about the time I complained about the weather making it too difficult to get around the castle. And then there was the time that I mentioned the up coming Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor Quidditch match. And let's not forget the fact that you jumped down my throat about the one time that I mentioned that I needed to pick up a new pair of gloves for potions. "When do you think you'll be going?" and "If I happen to find you there, do I get a prize?" and "A Gryffindor girl burned a hole through her gloves last week". Are you that eager to figure out who I am?'**

'**Yes. And do you know what I've gathered from this conversation?'**

'**No, I don't know. But I'm sure that you'll be telling me soon enough, one way or the other…'**

'**You're in Gryffindor.'**

Laughter bubbled up within me.

…

On a bright Wednesday afternoon Melody had me go out for some field work with her. Neither of us take Herbology anymore, but all of her paints were organically made. To make magic paint you need to gather several different herbs and a good majority of them could be found on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, close to the hut where the Keeper of Keys and Grounds lived. Hagrid was a tall fellow with a hulking build. He was known by Melody and I for his tendency to invite us in for tea, but more times than not she and I were hard at work to support her passion for painting.

We walked in silence with baskets thrown over our arms. Classes were done for the day in our case so we were changed into more comfortable clothing. Ditching the thin skirts and buttoned blouses, we both had on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. It was too cold for just the T-shirts, so in addition we had on thermal shirts under the short sleeved shirts. Our standard addition winter school cloaks were tossed off to the side while we worked.

"You've shown me some of David Bowie's music, right?" Mel asked offhand. She was crouched over a bush with a pair of clippers. A pair of big orange earmuffs kept her hairs from the cold. Not too far off I was putting my new gloves that I had my mum send me to good use and was plucking different plants for their roots. The ground was frozen almost solid, my forehead was glistening with sweat. It was frigid, but at least there wasn't snow on the ground. I glanced down at my shirt, which had Bowie's name scrawled across my chest.

"Plenty of times," I clarified wiping my face with my sleeve, "You're the most familiar with his Thin White Duke persona era. He recently moved to West Berlin from Switzerland and is working on new music, though." A sigh escaped my lips.

Mel stopped for a moment to rub her hands warm and eyed me, "Did you just swoon?"

"To enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy…" I gave out an embarrassed laugh, "I guess I did."

"You Muggleborns and your music!" she breathed with a grin, "What's so great about this Bowie character?"

Much gawking ensued. Warm clouds of breath poured from my hanging jaw. Then I remembered that Melody may have been a half-blood, but she only lived with her father. She didn't know her mother, who was the Muggle in her family tree. Turning to her fully and cocking a hip to the side I began, "Merlin, Melody. This is why we started going to concerts. You have so much to learn. My own mother would leave my father if she had the opportunity to be with Mr. Bowie. He's a rock icon. A sex icon. A god amongst men."

She looked severely apprehensive, "Goodness, I'm sorry I even asked," her attention was back in her basket as she took a quick inventory, "I've got all I need, thanks for coming with me." Motioning for me to catch up with her, she began back to the castle picking up our cloaks along the way.

I scurried forward, "Oh, ho, ho! Don't think we're done having this discussion! I will finish educating you on David Bowie one way or the other!"

She rolled her eyes, "I'd much rather talk about Sirius Black. You know, I haven't seen him with as many girls as usual. In fact, I haven't seen him with _anyone_ is a while."

Pride swelled in my chest, lighting my cheeks with a grin. I hadn't seen him snogging around either, much to my delight. There were only three days left to the month and it was no surprise to me that he was holding out. He probably was looking forward to possibly meeting me in February. He thought he would be able to talk me into meeting with him. It is, after all, the month for admiration, love, and lust. Lust, for certain. I merely shrugged, "I guess he just hasn't had much time to be chasing skirts lately."

The familiar sound of paper fluttering caught my attention, "Speaking of which…" At the same time that I reached for the paper, Melody threw out her hand and grabbed it. She shoved it into her basket.

"What gives-" she silenced me with a look toward the great lake. The Marauders were sitting there under the shade of a very bare tree, bundled up in hats, scarves, and gloves. They were all sitting around a aging piece of parchment that was folded in every direction.

"You don't want to get caught, do you?" Melody all but hissed. I found myself speeding up to keep in step with blondie. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the Marauders shoot us a fleeting glance before studying the parchment once more. What I wouldn't have given to know exactly what was on that paper…

We reached a series of stone doorways that let us enter an airy hallway.

'**Where are you right now?' **the note read. I furrowed a brow.

I couldn't tell the truth so I picked on of the furthest away points from where we actually were. As we more or less sauntered at a rushed pace through the corridor, the Marauders were still clearly visible through the stone windows. Tugging my red ink from my bag and a Drip Free quill, I rested the paper on one of my textbooks from my bag, **'I'm relaxing at the Astronomy Tower. I wouldn't rush there, by the time you get here I'll be long gone.' **My wand was out and the paper was gone within seconds.

Melody stopped behind two of the windows where the stone was thick enough to conceal us, "Let's stop here and watch their reactions." I watched as my paper arrived. It felt as though concrete was settling in the bottom of my lungs. Breathing became heavy.

"No," I hooked my arm with Melody's and kept us walking along, "I don't want to stop. The sooner we are out of sight the better."

"It's not like they can see us through the stone pillars, Ro. Calm down," she tsked and dug her heels into the floor the best she could. All that created was a rubber screech that echoed lightly, bouncing off of the starlight gray stone walls.

I trudged forward whether she liked it or not, "If they happen to find us skulking right there where we can plainly see them we become suspects. Please, don't be difficult."

The paper appeared between the two of us, **'I never really pegged you for a liar, love. Someone who avoids letting certain truths get out, sure. But a liar? No. You aren't at the Astronomy Tower.'**

The concrete in my lungs then spread and it was as if there was lead in my feet. Despite the new difficulty in walking, I kept up with how I was walking. Unattached from Melody I was able to reply, **'Oh? And how would you know?'**

There was no way that he had suspected me. He would have yelled to me when we passed. He would be getting up and following us. Bloody hell, he would be looking into the partially open air corridor to watch us move toward the castle.

Black's writing was rushed and a bit slanted, which was tell sign that he was excited, or felt a lot of adrenaline pumping through him. He might have felt as though he knew who I was, **'That's where I am of course, and I'm all alone.'**

I shook my head, where did he get the security to lie like that, **'Doubtful. It's my turn to call your bluff. There is no way that you're at the Astronomy Tower.' **_Because you're sitting near the Black Lake,_ _you bleeding wanker_. Our heels were clacking incessantly, by that time I was practically running toward the Ravenclaw Tower. Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.

'**Want to bet?**'

I didn't reply. Instead I knocked on the Common Room entrance and took the riddle that was given to us and answered it in haste. There should have been no way in Merlin's pants that Sirius Black could have been in two places at one time and her certainly hadn't been communicating with anyone. It's not as if he had agent's set up around the castle at all of the major hang out points. A, in his eyes I doubt he had enough trust worthy friends that would be able to do that for him. All of the Marauders had been there. And B, I don't believe that he was ever smart enough to think of that.

"It's got to have to do with that _parchment_…" It only made sense. How else would they, or Black in particular, have any sort of communication around the castle, whether it was actual human reports or otherwise. Simply think about it, if I could be contacting Black through our paper, than he could do something similar. My feet began pacing around the unoccupied couches of the Common Room. The fire was crackling and flaring with my movements.

"Rowan, what's going on?"

I turned to her and said a combination of words that I never thought would leave my mouth. But that bet was changing and disrupting a lot about me, so it should have been expected. Steadily stepping toward her I took one of her shoulders in each of my hands. I had to break the news as gently as I could to the law abiding girl.

"You, the twins, and I are going to sneak into Slughorn's personal supply closet and… acquire some ingredients."

…

What an awful chapter. I apologize! I just didn't want to leave you all too long without anything. I apologize for the chapter weakness. D: I'll be back and better than ever from my camping trip. I'm so very excited.

Greetings **dania0704**, I do hope that Rowan is interesting and dramatic. She's quite good at the dramatics. :P Hopefully this update was quick enough. Welcome back, **imogen**! Yes… the Snatchel twins are a favorite across the charts. (Even I like the twins more than Rowan. I don't tend to write characters like Rowan. Very often I write about headstrong Gryffindors. However I never get more than half a chapter of those stories done. Who knows why. I certainly don't.) Yes, it does take me a while to get me work done. I'm a bit of a detail free. Everything must line up, if it doesn't then I get terribly embarrassed. But I'm also a very space person… so mistakes happen. It drives me crazy! Oh dear, look at me going on a rant due to sleep deprivation… Talk to you soon, I hope! Hey there, **feelthecold**! Thank you for the review, I'm glad that you think so. (:

Thoughts? Please, review and let me know. I'll be gone for a little less than a week but I'll come back around and do some editing when I can. This chapter is 6,420 words long. **Unedited Rating: Keysmash In Frustration.**


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